Oct 31, 2011

Posted by in Blue Milk & Cereal | 15 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: Should Players Be Able To Change Their Character’s Look?

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

The importance of character creation in an MMORPG varies from player to player and from game to game. Without a doubt, character appearance in MMOs is more important than in other genres simply because the look of your character represents you to other players and will be the primary associative factor when they think of your character name or interact with you. In addition, we’re going to be spending a lot of time looking at this character ourselves, so we want him to be something we like!

Wether you’re the kind of person that will spend hours in character creation to get everything just right, or you simply hit the “randomize” button and jump into the game, there may come a day when the look of your character just doesn’t appeal to you anymore. Perhaps you want a new hairstyle or a new skin color, or even want to lose (or gain) some weight.

Star Wars Galaxies had an entire class which allowed players to be able to change and modify the look of characters – from a purely cosmetic standpoint. World of Warcraft implemented an in-game barber shop where players pay in-game gold to change their character’s appearance. And of course, there are also examples of games which do not permit any character alteration after the initial character creation process.

We don’t have word on if TOR will have any sort of system in place to accommodate to such needs, but we do know that BioWare believes in customization options for players. In my opinion, since we already know of customization kits for our companions, perhaps we will find something similar for our main characters? Or maybe TOR will have it’s very own Galactic spa where you can get the look you always wanted for a tidy sum of credits!

So, what do you think? Should players be able to change their character’s look? Should it be a paid service or an in-game feature? Let us know below!

Should players be able to change the look of their characters?

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  1. The next poll should be, “Should Jedi be allowed to use lightsabers?”

  2. An in game system payable in credits, but only for hair/beard/piercings/makeup/cybernetic implants/else. But not for tatoos, facial aspect etc…

    It made me think about something for the zabraks. As we all know, theyr tattoos and horns are shaped with what they live and theyr emotions… Would be nice to add something that shape automaticaly the appearance of our character, depending on what we do during, say, the 10th first levels. I would love that.

    • This is a good idea, but i agree with some other comments where it shouldnt be a top priority. that can be put in later on in a patch. lets get the main parts of the game done so that Dec 20th we can actually play!

    • I said other, because I felt that their should be limitations like the ones you described. I disagree with you about Tattoos. I would expect that to be fairly easy to change in the SWU, but it should be more expensive and maybe even at a different location…

  3. To me this is one of those features that should be in the game and cost credits, but should probably be low on the priority list.

    I think I’ve visited the barber shop in WoW all of one-time since it was added to the game. I guess I’m due for a hair cut.

    • Yes, but… WOW haircuts were pretty limited, the cost of a haircut went up with level and at max level was expensive enough too make it a waste of money (I did it only for the achievement :)

  4. A one time only thing. A lot of people are going to blaze through character customization screen to get in game. Should be allowed to change only once.

  5. I really enjoyed changing my looks in WoW. It kept it fresh for me.

  6. As a role-player I really want to be able to make changes after character creation. I love being able to represent certain events visually.

  7. Boogieman620 says:

    Changes should only be made to things like hair style, hair color, jewelry and scars.

  8. Bielduwyn says:

    Well, I follow the sentiment that only hairstyles, haircolour and jewellery should be able to get changed.

    Not so much scars, well, I suppose in Star Wars a cosmetic surgeon can take care of those. But yeah, no skin colour, facial structure or anything like that. Some parts should be set in stone for life.

    But as a role player I do feel that some changes are a must, if you RP a fashionista it only makes sense that your hair style and colour change on a regular basis.

  9. no sex or species change only things like hair, tattoos and maybe bodytype. It doesn´t really fit in my imagination to see your friends constantly changing species, ” hey so you are a femele twilek now, didn´t see that coming”. But ofc maybe if more species would be added into the game and maybe you want your class to be that species and not start again with that class I think that could be an exeption but im acctualy just on the gray side on this subject.

    • I think I remember them mentioning that IF they did certain species as playable then they would do a unique story chain that would make sense for them… which would make a “species change” complicated when trying to keep track of personal decisions.

      Side note: I really wanted to play a Mon Calamari trooper

  10. I voted other. I say they should only be able to do very minor changes such as hairstyle. I don’t think they should be able to change skin color or height or anything major like that.

  11. I think it would be cool to incorporate a class or maybe even a profession in game that would allow players to develop the social community and role play community. It worked well in SWG

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